Season's Greetings
by ArashiDumas
Summary: Toby Goes to England to live with Leah as part of a foreign exchange program. What bumps wil their relationship hit as Toby finds out more about his girlfriend?
1. Back

Season's Greetings

Chapter 1

He stood near the back of the room, watching carefully the girl singing center stage. She had a holiday solo, her voice resonating and hitting each voice with great precision and care.

_"Santa can't bring me_

_What I need,_

_'Cause all I want for Christmas is you."_

He smirked, shifting, holding a red rose near his heart. It had been three long months since he had seen her, and he wanted tonight to be perfect.

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The red-head English girl closed the door of the dressing room, taking a long drink of her nalgene water bottle.

"Leah, baby," an English rock-star-like voice greeted.

Leah sighed. "What now, Kevin?"

"You were amazing, doll." He smiled. "Let's go out and get a drink, yeah?"

"No."

"Fine, but you'll come around soon." He leaned down and kissed her cheek lightly, then walked off.

"So, you let other guys kiss you when I'm not around, eh?" A Canadian accented voice came.

Leah looked to the familiar voice's source, finding a brown haired boy with red framed glasses covering brown eyes with an adorable smile. "Toby!" She cried, eagerly hugging her boyfriend. "What are you doing here?"

He laughed, handing her the rose. "Well, I was in the neighborhood…" he joked, kissing her. "Kidding. I know how important this concert is to you, and I wanted to be here. You sang beautifully, by the way."

Leah squealed with glee. "I can't believe you came all the way just for a concert!"

"No just for a concert," Toby laughed. "I found a host family—well, bachelor, really—I'm a foreign exchange student."

"Host bachelor? Who?"

"Me." Fredrick McNichol rounded the corner, looking fondly on his daughter.

"Pops?"

"I'm moving back to Liverpool. And Toby's moving in with me."

Toby smiled broadly. "We'll be together for good—at long last."

Leah nodded, hugging her father. "Pops…I thought you were teaching back in Toronto."

"They decided o move me back to HQ. I'll be here for a while." He smiled, stroking his daughter's hair. "And Toby was right. You sang beautifully."


	2. Tours and Rumors

Season's Greetings

Chapter 2

"And this is the art hallway," Leah was saying, though she knew Toby wasn't paying any attention. She had been told by the principal, Ms. Anderson, that since Toby was living at her father's house, she should be his student sdvisor. "Your ceramics class is here." She pointed to a room. "It looks like Germhain isn't in yet. She's really nice, I had her last semester…Toby, are you listening to me?"

Toby smiled. "Of course. But I have a question."

"What's that?"

"When do I get one-on-one time with my student advisor?"

"We're one-on-one now," Leah said with a small blush.

"No, I mean real alone time. Since I got here a few days ago, the only time I've been alone with you has been this tour. Leah, you're my girlfriend, and I came here from Toronto to be with you—no other reason but that."

Leah sighed. "We'll do something—alone—this weekend. Toby, I've been so busy, and you surprised me. I promise, it's not going to be this hectic forever." She gave him a warm smile. "Don't worry." The first bell rang loudly, alerting the students that they had only a few minutes to get to their next class. Leah leaned in to Toby, giving him a small, soft kiss before going to her own class.

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"There's that McNichol girl," a girl in front of Toby whispered to her friend, pointing in Leah's general direction. Leah was sitting at a table, eating her sandwich, engulfed in her writing, as she always was.

Toby smiled a bit, turning back to the lunch menu, trying to decide what to get.

"Yeah. I heard that she was lesbo." The other girl said.

"Where'd you hear that?"

"Oh, you know, it's obvious. She's never had a boyfriend, and she turned down Kevin Smith again the other night. He's not going to wait for her forever."

"She said no to Smith? No one says no to him!" The first girl said with an astonished tone.

Toby shook his head, getting his tray. "She's not a lesbian, I'll tell you that."

"How do you know, new kid?" the second girl asked.

"You're the one living with her, right?"

"Yeah, she's a member of my host family—her and her dad."

"So…" the first began, "did you guys like…do it?"

With a sigh and a small smirk, Toby looked down. "Good-bye, ladies." He began walking away, leaving the two girls squealing with their assumptions. He sat down and looked at Leah. "They think you're Lesbian."

Leah looked up from her notebook. "What?"

"There's a rumor going around that you like girls. Why didn't you tell anybody about me?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I guess, around here, when you say you have a boyfriend who lives in Toronto, they tend to think he's made up. I didn't want anybody thinking you were imaginary, because Icertaintly know you're not." A grin flashed on her face as she recalled a night of passion they had had back in Toronto. "Anyways, it doesn't matter. You and I know the truth, and that's all that counts, right?"

"Yeah, but...the rumors. Arn't they horrible?"

"Not really. You know me, I don't care about about rumors."

Toby sighed. "Alright. You still should have told them about me."

"They'll find out soon enough." Leah stood up, picking up her bag. "I'm going to class; I need some extra help with my homeowrk."

"Hmmmm....okay." He smiled at her, watching her grab her notebook.

About to walk away, Leah stopped and looked back at Toby. She kissed him sweetly. "I'll see you at home."

Toby nodded. "Bye, Leah."


	3. Findings of Truth: Does she Really?

Chapter 3

Toby was already home by the time Leah dragged herself in the door. "I'm home!" She called, then laid her bag down on the flower printed couch, falling quickly after it.

Toby walked downstairs, looking at her with a small, pathetic grin. "Welcome home," he said.

Leah yawned. "Yeah yeah." She sat up and rubbed her eyes, looking over at him. "How was your day?"

He shrugged, sitting down next to her, draping his arm around her shoulder. "It was pretty okay… Now, do I get my one on one time with my student advisor?"

She smirked, leaning towards him, then kissed him lightly. "My dad's gonna be home."

"Shhh… Don't worry about that…" He smiled and pulled her closer.

"Toby—We can't…Not here…Not now…"

"No protesting—you've been holding out on me since last year!" He smirked and pushed her down.

Leah sat down in her first period Math class, her best friend, Sharrie, looking at her.

"OMG, Leah," Sharrie gushed, looking down at her.

Leah yawned. "What now?"

"That smile—only one thing could have happened last night!" She suddenly got very serious. "So… How was he?"

"Sharrie—nothing happened."

"Don't you 'nothing happened' me, girlfriend! I know you far to well to know that something happened!" Sharrie pushed her bushy brown hair back, her dark sking blending in with it.

Toby walked over, inturrupting their discussion. "Hey Leah. Sharrie." He nodded slightly to both of the girls.

Sharrie smiled again and stood. "Bye Girlfriend. I'll catch up with you later."

"By Cher." Leah watched her friend walk away, then stood. "I have to go talk to Mr. S about this. Catch ya at lunch?"

Toby nodded slightly again. "Yeah…I guess. I gotta get to class."

Lunch was no better. Toby knew that Leah was avoiding him, but he couldn't tell why. They had had such a good relationship before he had come to England to be with her. Could it possibly be his fault that the girl he loved hated him? He had only wanted to be around her… He sighed and couldn't think of that possibility. Leah had ditched lunch to, again, go talk to Mr. S. about her homework. He sighed and stood, walking out of the cafeteria, going to her class. He looked in the window, seeing her sitting on a desk, her guitar on her lap, strumming lightly.

"You took my heart, crushed it in your hand," she sang, her own tune, he guessed, "Within a stroke you went and broke. How Could I love again?" She stopped and looked down at the floor, holding back tears. He took a step forward, about to go in, then stopped. If this song—if it was written about him… He couldn't face her. She was staying at her mom's house tonight, he could just go home and not have another wayward thought about her. And the next time he saw her, he would take her softly by the hand and tell her that he was going home. Back to Canada. The decision was a hard one, but one he knew he had to make.


	4. Regrets

**Chapter 4**

"Toby, I don't think I understand…"

"I have to leave, Leah. We've both changed to much throughout the last year. I think…I think this is best… I'll finish up this semester, and I'll leave."

"Toby--"

"I'll be fine, Leah." He smiled his sideways smile and touched her hand. "I'll always love you, but maybe we only work with distance between us."

"Why are you doing this?" She questioned quietly, her eyes were filling with their tears.

"Because it's the best thing for us to grow. Maybe someday you'll be able to understand."

"And maybe someday I won't!" She sighed and turned away from him. How could he do that to her—come to her and share a wonderful night with her, then leave her hanging from a cliff?

"I'm sorry, Leah. You know I don't want to hurt you." He touched her shoulder, and she slapped his hand away, running to her own room. "Leah!" he called after her—he couldn't leave things like this… They had been to close to end the relationship on an unhappy note—but if this was how she wanted it, he had to appease her wishes. He sat down on the couch and buried his head in his hands. Only a month, and the semester was over.

**THE END**

A note from Jaz—Thanks for reading! Wow, this one was really short! I've decided to make this a quartet, one more one-shot to end things between Toby and Leah—For good? Who knows. You guys rock, and all that—Jaz.


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